The leadership of both main parties seem to think the only thing Reform supporters get worked up about is immigration. They may be right, but the conclusion that they can only win them over by out Reforming Reform is based on some alarmingly naive assumptions about the people they are trying to convert.
So, I thought I’d help Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch out by attempting to discover what your average Reform supporter actually wants.
...
So, I took to the internet and joined a raft of Reform-supporting groups to see what their followers were thinking. I have to say, this was not a pleasant task. Scrolling through hundreds of posts filled with ugly sentiments was like stumbling upon the world’s worst online dating site.
...
Among all this impotent fury there are genuine concerns about the health service, cost of living, crime, housing and all the other things the rest of us worry about. However, these people have fallen for the ancient lie that their problems aren’t caused by the people with the power to change them, but by “the others”.
And this is where the slope gets really slippery. Lee Anderson’s sympathy for the thugs involved in the Southport riots is widely shared and despite official disapproval from the party’s leadership the jailed Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson) is often lauded as true patriot and political prisoner.
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As opinion polls regularly confirm, the queues at food banks and A&E matter more to most voters than the ones at the border. Surely the way to dissuade people from abandoning the British traditions of tolerance and democracy is to deal with real issues rather than pandering to the fairy tale that everything would be okay if it wasn’t for “that lot”.
But, with Reform style—ads and videos of poor souls arrested after being forced to work in nail bars, Labour risk legitimising the racism they’re trying to undermine. If you tell Farage’s supporters, “See, you can vote for us after all,” they may just hear, “See, you were right all along”.
As the Democrats found out in November, if you don’t take the chance to improve people’s lives, they might just dump you for the nearest narcissistic crackpot and while the Conservative‘s collapse allowed Reform to creep onto the wings of the political stage, Labour’s failure to address everyday concerns risks thrusting them into the spotlight.
The two most common complaints on the Reform supporters’ websites are that immigrants are bad and the Government doesn’t care about ordinary people. If Labour can’t demonstrate that the latter is as much a lie as the former, we might all get what Reform supporters really want… President Farage.
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Unfortunately this is where we on the left often fall for our own bias.
Labour spending time on red tory politics is not eating into the time to proove they care about people.
Because many right wing voters see such actions as the very proof they do care.
IE we on the left see the actions of the last 14 years as showing tories do not care. But the right on the whole are bot convinced our ideas of caring can actually help. Rather then cause more harm.
When we just say being right wing shows we don't care. We are basically saying we have no need to explain why our ideals are better for these people.
The left as a whole me included. Has given up trying to convince the right that a) our actions are not harmful for the econ as a whole. And b) our vision of how the econ should work is in itself better for all but the very top. While not being harmful to the top. Just less profitable.
Of course how bad the last 2 paragraphs were at getting my point over, makes it clear this is not my talent. But I hope I managed to make my point to you at least.
The just is we on the left needs to find leaders who are good at explaining the advantages of our ideals. Rather then assuming right wing voters know their ideals cause harm to society and the economy.